


Dan's Hands

by DashFlintceschi



Category: You Me At Six
Genre: Dan's overly understanding, Gen, Josh has a weird obsession, Max Matt and Chris act a bit laddish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 11:21:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1686506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh has a thing about hands, especially Dan's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dan's Hands

**Author's Note:**

> No idea where this came from, like most of my ideas. A few descriptions of gory injuries, but no violence, just Josh and Dan being clumsy bastards.

Josh has a thing about hands. It’s not a sexual thing, he just likes that you can look at someone’s hands and they can tell you so much about that person.

The first time Josh properly notices Dan’s hands, they’re on tour. They’ve just played a show, and Dan pulled a muscle in his leg while he was drumming. Josh is sitting across from him on the bus when he starts putting Deep Heat on his calf. He doesn’t pay much attention to what Dan’s doing at first, but then he glances over as he’s talking to Dan, and his eyes settle on Dan’s hands, massaging the cream into his skin.

Dan has nice hands, Josh decides. Big, but not out of proportion with the rest of him; smooth, lightly tanned skin on the backs, and rough calluses on the palms and fingers from drumming. 

After that, Josh finds himself staring at Dan’s hands more often than he’d like to admit. He quickly decides that his favourite thing about Dan’s hands is how he can go from using them for brute force when he’s drumming, to using them to do something delicate, like the time Josh smashes a tumbler and gets shards of glass embedded in his hand. Dan has some first aid training, so he takes it upon himself to take care of it. 

He cups Josh’s hand with one of his own as he starts picking out the shards, and he’s so careful and gentle that it takes Josh by surprise. He never expected Dan to be cruel about it, but as Dan gently smoothes antiseptic cream over each wound, Josh can’t help but marvel at seeing someone who drums hard enough to break several drumsticks every night being so gentle.

There are a few times when Josh almost gets caught out in his fascination with Dan’s hands. The first is on the last night of tour. Josh is so busy watching him drum during Lived A Lie, their final encore song, that he stops paying attention to what he’s doing, and trips over Chris’ guitar lead, which leads to him slamming his head against the edge of the drum riser. Despite the fact that he has a concussion and can barely stay conscious, Josh still manages to think up an excuse, and swears blind that he tripped because the stage lights momentarily blinded him.

The second time happens about a month later. Dan’s just bought his first house, and he’s invited the four of them over to have dinner and laugh at shit horror films. Josh follows his usual habit of being everywhere early, so it’s just him and Dan for the first twenty minutes or so. Dan declines Josh’s help with cooking, so Josh sits at the kitchen table and watches the way Dan’s hands move as he cuts up potatoes and does god only knows what to the steaks. 

Josh is so busy watching Dan, he doesn’t even notice the others when they get there, until Matt claps his hands in front of Josh’s face.

“Why the fuck are you staring at Dan like a total creep?” He asks with a laugh, and Josh feels his face heat up.

“I wasn’t, I just… Got hypnotised by the movement, I guess,” he mumbles, not bothering about the snorts of laughter at his expense. At least they haven’t figured out the truth. He’d never live it down if they found out.

The third time happens only a few days later. Dan’s new house has a garage in the back garden that he plans on turning into a ‘drum cave’. Josh is helping him do some work in there, when he can’t stop himself from watching the raw power in Dan’s hands and forearms as he saws a piece of wood. Unfortunately for Josh, he’s in the middle of hammering when his eyes drift over to Dan, and he ends up slamming the large hammer down on his left hand. Dan jumps violently and spins around at the scream that comes from Josh, rushing over after he sees Josh cradling his rapidly swelling hand against his chest.

“What the hell happened?” He gasps as he gently takes Josh’s hand between his own and looks it over. Josh can’t help the heat that rises in his face as he explains, especially with the incredulous look Dan gives him. The thrill from having Dan’s hands around his helps with the pain, though not much. Especially when Dan gives him a look that one would usually reserve for a particularly clumsy child, and grabs his keys to drive Josh to the hospital.

As they sit in the waiting room at the hospital for Josh’s x-rays to come back, Dan can’t take not knowing any more.

“How the fuck did you manage to hit yourself that hard?” He asks, and Josh shrugs, wincing as it jolts his hand.

“I just… Drifted off into a daydream mid-swing, I guess,” he lies, hoping it doesn’t show on his face. Thankfully, Dan doesn’t seem to notice, giving him a freaked out look as the nurse calls Josh’s name, stumbling over his surname, to the surprise of neither of them.

It turns out that Josh managed to break his wrist in three places, as well as all of the metacarpals, basically the entire palm of his hand, and his index, ring and pinkie fingers. Dan allows him to squeeze his hand as they reset the bones and put it in a cast. Josh is glad that, of his band mates, Dan’s the one there with him, as he’s pretty sure the other three would have made some kind of comment at his expense about the few tears of pain that slip out as the nurse forces his fingers into the right position and bandages them. All Dan does is rub Josh’s shoulder comfortingly and joke,

“I’m surprised you managed to do so much damage. Who knew you had upper body strength?” Josh laughs quietly, though it comes out slightly hoarsely, he knows Dan’s only saying it to cheer him up, and he appreciates it.

The other three are at Dan’s when they get back, and have picked up the DIY where they left it. As soon as Josh walks through the door, they start laughing, without even knowing what happened.

“Very nice, laughing at your best friend’s pain,” Dan scowls at them, and they sober slightly.

“Sorry, mate, it’s just, we knew something was going to happen. We all know what you’re like with DIY,” Max tells him, but it doesn’t make Josh feel any better about being laughed at. Josh sits out of the other’s way in a strop for the rest of the afternoon, especially when Matt produces beer from somewhere, completely unapologetic when he learns that Josh can’t drink with the painkillers he’s been given. Josh notices that Dan passes on the bottle Matt offers him, smiling when Josh gives him an appreciative nod.

Things come to a head, or a hand, as it were, a few months later. Josh is in the middle of thinking up an excuse to put off packing for tour a little while longer, when his mobile rings. When he answers it, Dan’s voice sounds strained and agonised.

“J, I need your help,” he wheezes, and Josh’s heart jumps into his throat.

“Where are you and how fast do I need to be there?” He asks quickly, pulling on his trainers as he speaks and standing up with his keys in his hands. He’s already half way out the door before Dan answers.

“I’m in the drum cave. I was practicing and a drumstick shattered in my hand. It doesn’t look like there’s too much damage, but it really, really fucking hurts,” he whimpers, and Josh’s heart aches for him.

“It’s alright, I’m in the car, I’ll be there in five minutes, and we’ll get you sorted out, alright?” He hangs up as soon as Dan responds, quickly tossing his phone onto the passenger seat and starting his car.

When Josh rushes into the drum cave, Dan is slumped on the raggedy old couch, his skin grey and clammy as he cradles his right hand, which still has large splinters of wood embedded in it. Josh moves over to sit beside him, the bag full of first aid supplies he keeps in his car in his hand.

He sit’s the bag at his feet and helps Dan sit up slowly. He opens the bag and pulls out some antiseptic wipes and a pair of sterile tweezers, quickly but thoroughly cleans his hands with one of the wipes, then cups Dan’s hand with one of his as he holds the tweezers ready.

“I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt, a lot,” he warns, and Dan nods as he steels himself. Josh knows it’ll be worse for Dan if he hesitates, so he quickly grabs a splinter of wood with the tweezers and pulls it out, forcing himself to ignore Dan’s yelp of pain and keep going.

Dan’s openly sobbing by the time Josh picks out the last tiny splinter, but Josh knows he has to keep going, so as much as he’d rather comfort Dan, he pulls one of the wipes from its packet and starts gently but meticulously cleaning the gashes in Dan’s hand. Once he’s done, Dan goes to sit his hand on his lap, but Josh doesn’t let go. He knows it’s a bad idea, but he can’t help himself as he ghosts his fingers over Dan’s hand, being excessively careful near the wounds. 

Dan starts to get slightly worried as Josh’s fingers trace every inch of his hand, an intense, focused look on his face.

“Josh? What’re you doing?” He asks softly, trying again to tug his hand back. Josh realises what he’s doing and lets him go, blushing hotly as he looks away.

“S-sorry, I j-just…” Josh desperately tries to think of an excuse, but nothing comes to him. He jumps and flinches away as Dan gently touches his hand.

“Josh, whatever it is, you can tell me, it’s ok, really,” Dan encourages, and Josh doesn’t even try to fight the tears that spill over, he can’t hide it anymore, Dan’s going to know how weird he is.

“I-I have this thing about hands, and for the last few months, I’ve been a little obsessed with yours,” he mumbles, Dan watching him quietly for a minute as he takes in the information.

“You have a ‘thing’ for hands? Like a sexual thing?” He asks slowly, and Josh quickly shakes his head.

“No, no, I just…” He can’t figure out how to explain it, so he grabs Dan’s uninjured left hand and holds it palm up between them, then lifts his free hand beside Dan’s. “Look at them, at the differences between them. Yours are big, solid, covered in calluses and scars from drumming and god only knows what else; whereas mine, they’re smaller and, as much as I hate to use the word, more delicate than yours, they’re not as rough, and there’s a few scars from climbing shit I shouldn’t have, but they’re still smoother. Hands are so different from person to person, and they tell a story, they tell you what kind of life that person’s lived. I think it’s amazing, don’t you?” 

Dan finds it difficult to speak for a moment. He’s always known that Josh thinks about some seriously deep shit sometimes, but this floors him.

“Yeah, I’ve never looked at it like that before, but you’re right, it’s amazing,” he murmurs, then holds both his hands out to Josh, who just gives him a confused look.

“Go ahead, they’re all yours,” he prompts, and Josh grins, taking Dan’s hands in his own gently and running his fingertips over every bump and ridge.

“You don’t think I’m a total freak?” He asks softly, and Dan laughs.

“No more than I did this morning. If anything, I have more respect for you, being able to see inside your head, to see the strange things that fascinate you. We all have different stuff we’re interested in, seeing the profound things that catch your attention is pretty cool,” he reassures, and Josh smiles as he gives Dan his hands back.

“Thanks for understanding, I know a lot of people would just think I’m a freak,” he mumbles, and Dan shrugs.

“Don’t worry about it. Your secret’s safe with me. And any time you want to molest my hands again, just say the word, alright?” Dan grins as he says it, to make sure Josh knows that while he’s serious about the offer, he’s only joking, and doesn’t actually feel violated by Josh’s strange hobby.

The rest of the band find out a few weeks later, when they’re touring. Thinking the other three have gone out exploring, Josh asks Dan if he can play about with his hands again. Dan’s happy to oblige, as promised, and he can’t help feeling dread on Josh’s behalf when Max comes wandering in, giving them a freaked out look when he sees what they’re doing.

“What the fuck?” Is all he says, and Dan thinks quickly. The only thing he can think of is quite stupid, but he figures Josh would rather have Max think that, than know the truth.

“He’s gotten into palm reading, and I’m letting him practice on me,” he lies, but Max just gives him an unimpressed look.

“Then why is he looking at the backs of your hands?” He asks, and Dan sighs, realising they’ve been caught out.

“I tried,” he mumbles to Josh apologetically, and Josh smiles tightly in response.

“It’s alright, s’not your fault,” he reassures, then turns to Max. “Come on, I might as well explain it to all three of you at the same time,” he decides, and Max nods, trailing after Josh and Dan as they go down to where Matt and Chris are sitting.

Once they’re settled, Matt looks at the three of them worriedly.

“What’s going on? Has something happened?” He asks quietly, and Max shakes his head.

“I walked in on Josh feeling up Dan’s hands, Josh said he’s going to explain it to all three of us,” he tells him, and the three of them turn to him expectantly. He starts the same way he did with Dan, trying to explain his obsession with hands, but they don’t get it any more than Dan did, so he resorts to the same way he showed Dan, getting all four of them to lay their hands palms up on the table, then lays his hands down with theirs.

“Look at how different our hands are. Different sizes, different skin tones, you guys all have calluses and battle scars from playing, while mine are a lot smoother, and even the calluses and scars are different. Max and Chris’ are much the same, but Chris’ are tougher because he’s been playing longer, and he has more scars because he’s had more strings break and cut him and because of the skating; Matt’s calluses are bigger, wider because of the thicker strings, and he has barely any scars because bass strings are less prone to snapping; and Dan’s, he has calluses all down his fingers and over his palms because of the drumsticks, and he has loads of scars, between drumsticks shattering and all the DIY he does, and even some burn scars from cooking; and then mine, thinner and more delicate than the rest of you, because I’ve never played an instrument to toughen them up. I have a few scars from climbing trees and fences and shit when I was younger and stupider, but other than that, the skin’s smooth and unmarred. Our hands tell our stories, and I find that fascinating,” he rambles, and when he looks up, Dan’s smiling at him encouragingly, and the others seem a lot less confused, and slightly impressed.

“It’s mental, what goes on in that head of yours,” is all Matt says, Max and Chris murmuring in agreement. The three of them tell him that he can ‘feel up’ their hands any time he wants, then wander away to do their own thing, and Josh can’t help but feel mostly relieved, but slightly guilty that he ever doubted them.


End file.
